Sunday, July 22, 2007

Running with Ron Paul

By Libby

It's not an entirely flattering piece, in fact it's pretty damn snarky but it's a testament to Ron Paul that the NYT is profiling him in today's paper. Considering he was written off from the beginning as a fringe kook who didn't have a prayer, he's now garnered enough attention that he can't just be ignored.

This is the power of the internets in today's politics. Without his YouTube popularity or his web dominance, this piece would never have been written and Paul would have remained an obscure voice. Granted, it stills seems impossible that he'll ever get the nomination since the GOP seems to have embraced Fred Thompson as their grandfather figure. However, Ron Paul has a good reason to keep fighting.

“Politicians don’t amount to much,” he says, “but ideas do.” Although he is still in the low single digits in polls, he says he has raised $2.4 million in the second quarter, enough to broaden the four-state campaign he originally planned into a national one.

Paul's biggest problem, as the piece points out, is that his base is so incredibly diverse. Much will probably be made about the kooks crack in the article, but there's no denying that some of his base comes from the far reaches of the left and the right, as well as moderates who are sick of nanny governing. Whether he can somehow weave all these groups into a coherent campaign machine remains to be seen, but it seems certain he'll be able to retain their respect. As one of his key aides remarks:

“So many times, people say to us, ‘We don’t like his vote.’ But they trust his heart.”

For myself, I love his position on the drug war. He is a long time champion of sensible drug policy but I hate too many of his other stances on the government's role in society to support him as a president. Nonetheless, I think he's a rare bird -- a principled politician -- and I hope he keeps his seat in the Congress. We need more like him inside the beltway.

8 Comments:

Ron Paul is 1st in YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Meetup, Google, etc. The old media is just too slow to realize what is happening.

Ron Paul has the most contributions from U.S. military personnel above all other candidates. So support the troops and vote Ron Paul!

‘Scientific Polls’ at this stage only measure name recognition. Over the next six months Ron Paul will gain name recognition and people will learn about who Ron Paul is. Most people who learn about Ron Paul become major supporters.

Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were doing about the same in the 'Scientific Polls' at this stage in their elections. Ron Paul has tremendous momentum and his support is growing exponentially. The other candidates are stagnant. Only Ron Paul's support is growing and will continue to grow!

Ron Paul is the man of integrity and courage that America needs at this time.

It's a long way to the next election - if we have one, but in the sense of thinking we need to be hearing his voice in every debate, I support him.

When the Republicans boo him for things like pointing out the roots of anti-americanism in Iran, for instance, it makes them seem like cheerleaders and makes him seem like the coach. When they go off into their flights of sloganeering, he sticks calmly with the subject.

Yes, he's much more of a libertarian than I am. I don't want to do away with social security or public education, but a President can't really dispose of such things, but we do need someone willing to tell us we're banning our way toward a police state - and that's Paul.

I support him 100%. I don't think any of the additions to govenrment that we made in the 20th century have stood the test of time. Certain of them work better than others, but we could do it better ourselves or via our states. theres no reason we should have a 3 trillion dollar budget. tax us for the stuff we use, like roads and water. not for our incomes.

but the bigger issue for me is

1. the government printing what is essentially counterfit money adn borrowing more money. to pay for